A Co Fermanagh mum has called for more support to be given to those suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) after the sudden death of her daughter last year.
Katie Donnelly, 18, died suddenly last September at a mental health facility in the Fermanagh and Tyrone Hospital in Omagh.
Katie, from Ederney, had been diagnosed with the condition not long after she turned 18, and her mum Erin says she was in ‘constant emotional pain’.
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Erin wants more to be done to treat people with BPD and a better awareness of what the illness is. Studies have shown that around 1 in 100 people in the UK are affected by BPD.
Katie’s mum said she lived life to the full despite her challenges with her condition.
“Katie approached life with optimism and lived life to the fullest. She enjoyed all the good things this world had to offer and she appreciated and took full advantage of them,” Erin told Belfast Live.
“Katie had so many amazing gifts but her smile was the greatest gift she possessed and she wore it so confidently and gave it to everyone she met.
“Not because she was always happy but because it may just brighten someone else’s day.
“To this day I am continually getting messages from people I don’t know, people who sometimes didn’t even know Katie but had some form of interaction with her and they recall the kindness Katie had shown them.”
Katie had been a student at Mount Lourdes Grammar School in Enniskillen and had been doing interviews for a university place in the weeks before her death.
Her mum said she had a great love for horses and had worked in a number of different part time jobs to look after her own horse and car.
“She was always on the road going somewhere doing something. She would visit her friends’ parents even if her friends weren’t at home, she called with her great uncle and auntie once a week, she even visited my friends,” Erin said.
“Katie had excellent social skills and she is missed in so many homes for this.”
Opening up on her diagnosis, Erin says it was something Katie accepted but she found it very difficult to live with.
“Katie was in constant emotional pain, but she accepted her diagnosis and was convinced that Quiet BPD applied to her.
“Katie internalised negative emotions such as anger and sadness and felt she was a disappointment and a burden to those who loved her.”
Despite her family’s grief after Katie’s death, Erin says she wants to raise awareness of the impact of BPD in an effort to improve treatment and attitudes towards the condition.
“Someone suffering with BPD can be one of the most caring and empathetic friends you could have, they will put you first above their own needs and you are so lucky if you ever have someone like that in your life.
“BPD sufferers are told much too often that they are attention seekers, by friends, professionals and the general public.
“It continues to face deep discrimination within mental health services and the community. Many people and professionals alike still view self-harming behaviour as attention-seeking, rather than perceiving it as a symptom of their underlying mental illness and associated distress.”
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